Helljumper
by Jack Cross
Summary: As the Battle of Earth raged, James, better known to his squad as the Rookie, is dropped into the city of New Mombasa in order to attack a Covenant ship. But the mega city is not where he landed. Now in a strange new world, he'll have to struggle to adapt to a life that doesn't involve being a Helljumper. Or so he thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I'm back with another project. This time, however it's a project that I've actually worked on in the past. As you can tell, the vote came back for a revamp of the story, which frankly I'm kind of thankful old one wasn't my best work, and this is a chance to start anew. A new title, new main character, the whole works. So without further ado, here we go:**

 _The Year is 2552._

 _Humanity is at war with an alien alliance known as 'The Covenant'._

 _We are losing._

 _The Covenant have burned our worlds, killing billions in their genocidal campaign._

 _Earth is our last bastion, a carefully guarded secret._

 _But not anymore._

 _A Covenant carrier has breached Earth's defenses and attacked the African Mega-City, New Mombasa. Initial reports confirm major damage and heavy civilian casualties._

 _Now, military leaders of the 'United Nations Space Command' have prepared their response. Teams of highly-trained Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are ready to assault the carrier from navy ships in low orbit._

 _This is a near-suicidal mission. But these troopers are the best of the best._

I was woken up with a sharp blow to the chest. In an instant, gone was the nap I had been craving for so long, and had only just finally achieved. With a grunt of pain, I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and my vision came into focus. It seemed that I had dosed off in my pod, waiting on the order to come down that we were being dropped. Standing in front of me was Romeo, one of my new squadmates. His black hair was regulation buzz cut, and his armor had a blue paint on it. He was holding a sniper rifle, in fact based on the angle at which he was holding it, that was what had struck me.

"Wake up, buttercup," he said, his face having a smug grin plastered across it. This didn't last long as another of my squadmates shoved him out of the way. This one had his helmet on, his armor had an orange paint on it with a white skull and crossbones painted on the center of his chest.

"Relax, Rookie, he don't mean nothin'. Besides, now's one of those times where it pays to be the strong silent type," the trooper, Dutch said as he handed me a weapon. It was an M7S sub machine-gun. I took the weapon and slammed it into the magnetic hold beside my seat in my pod. Dutch gave me a nod of approval before he turned away, headed for his own pod. With that, the door on the pod slammed closed and sealed with an audible hiss.

Maybe I should explain a little bit about what's going on, get you caught up to speed.

My name is Lance Corporal James Durant, or The Rookie as my new squadmates so affectionately call me. I'm an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST for short, and at this particular moment in time I was sitting in a SOEIV pod hanging a few miles above the city of New Mombasa. Others in the UNSC Marines get sent ground side riding cozily in the back of a Pelican class drop ship. Troopers like us get dropped feet first from orbit in a titanium coffin. There's a reason we're called Helljumpers.

As my pod slowly rotated a hundred and eighty degrees, the various screens in front of me came to life. My vitals, the pod's hull structure, various conditions both inside and out of the pod, every single bit of information I could ever need for a drop was all right there in front of me. Near the top of all the displays, two video feeds flickered to life. The one on the left was broadcasting Gunnery Sergeant Buck, the leader of my squad, while the one on the right was some woman wearing some armor I'd never seen before. The word DARE was painted in white across her forehead. Probably some spook from the Office of Navel Intelligence based on how customized her armor was.

"Latest intel reports Covenant troops are massing beneath the carrier," the woman said.

"They're pulling back? Why?" the sarge asked.

"We're not gonna find out way up here." With that, my pod came to a halt. A hatch opened up beneath my pod and the others. There was nothing below us now but a free fall to the planet's surface. I took a few breaths and gripped the controls on the end of my seat. This may not have been my first drop, but there's still nothing that can truly prepare you for it.

"Troopers! We're green and very, very mean!" the sarge said. With that, the pods began to drop away from the ship. There was a beeping countdown, and then my pod detached as well. My stomach did summer salts as I plummeted toward the Earth's surface. The view was something else though. I could see the Orbital Elevator with ease from here. Several wrecks of UNSC ships were floating out there too. Many of them were still on fire, little more now there hunks of metal in orbit.

"I take it back, the Navy got it's butt kicked," Romeo's voice crackled over the radio.

"Hey Romeo, remember when I told you to shut your mouth? Consider that a standing order," the Gunny replied. We entered a cloud bank, and I scanned the various screens. Everything was registering as normal, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary for a combat drop.

"Fifteen klicks off the deck," the Gunny reported. We came out of the clouds, and the city was sprawled out below us. Hovering over the center of the city was the massive Covenant ship.

"Stand by to adjust trajectory. On my mark," the woman said.

"What did she just say?"

"Mark!" With that, my pod suddenly shifted. From what I could see outside, so did the rest of the squad's. We weren't headed toward the carrier anymore, but rather a totally different part of the city.

"We're way off course!" one of my squadmates, Micky said.

"We're headed exactly where I need to go!" the woman countered.

"But we're gonna miss the carrier!" I watched as a pulse of dark purple energy washed over the hull of the carrier and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Radiation!" Dutch shouted.

"The Covenant just set off a nuke?" Micky asked. A huge sphere of dark purple energy appeared off the bow of the Covenant ship, and I felt my eyes grow to the size of saucers as I realized what was going on. The Covenant ship was going to jump, inside the city.

"No, slip-space rupture, you need to..." the woman started, but was cut off as the ship entered the sphere and vanished in a flash of light. In an instant, a massive explosion sent a blinding white light outward in all directions, engulfing the city and us in the process.

"EMP!"

"Deploy your chutes, we're going in hard!"

One of the other pods slammed into mine, cracking the glass and threatening to tear the door clean off. I grabbed the handle with my right hand and held on for dear life. If this door was torn away before I reached the ground, I was dead, period. The screens were all flashing warning signs All of the pod systems went dead as the pod spiraled out of control. I couldn't see anything but that white light outside of the pod. Even the radio descended into static as I lost contact with the others.

Then the pod slammed into the ground, and everything went dark.

* * *

I slowly came to with blurry vision and a pounding headache. All I could hear, aside from a roar that was slowly fading, was the slow beeping of the pod's pulse signal. The door of the pod slowly swam into view. All of the screens and windows were cracked, and both of the video feeds had nothing but snow.

Speaking of snow, there was actual snow on the outside of the pod. Actual snow, and pine trees, neither being things I'd expect to find in East Africa. I blinked a few times as I tried to get my headache to go away. If I had a concussion, this was one hell of a hallucination. Reaching up, I grabbed the release handle and gave it a yank.

The pod door hissed, and then violently exploded away from the pod itself. It rebounded off of a nearby tree before sticking straight up and down in the snow. Instantly cold air rushed into the pod, but I didn't feel it thanks to my armor. It wasn't until I started to climb out of the pod that I realized I was on my side.

Bracing myself against the pod, I climbed out into the snow and looked around. I was on a mountain side, with a flew flurries floating down from a gray sky. From the looks of things, the pod had impacted somewhere higher up and then slid down to where it was resting now against the base of a tree.

Taking off my helmet, I took a deep breath, sucking in as much as I could. The frigid air did wonders for clearing my head. I looked the helmet over, and finding no flaws in it I focused on my reflection in the polarized visor. There was no blood, no indication that I had severe head trauma. Sliding the helmet back on, I scanned through the frequencies on my comm, listening for any UNSC broadcasts of any kind. All I got was static.

The radio was working fine, so either I was out of range or there was a lot of local interference. With a sigh, I decided to focus on what I could actually work with. I had the M7S with four full mags, an M6C SOCOM along with a five spare mags, three fragmentation grenades, and about three days worth of rations.

I could only hope that where ever I was, there was a UNSC outpost here. There as no way of knowing where I was exactly. My brother, Kyle, charted slipspace nav courses for a navy frigate. According to him, when it came to slipspace, things got...weird. Without a proper course plotted, you could wind up anywhere.

So there I was, standing virtually anywhere in the universe without a single clue on what to do next. I gathered the weapons and supplies before setting off down the mountain side. Staying by the pod wasn't going to get me anywhere, and I figured going downhill was bound to lead me somewhere. The compass that was built into my helmet's visor indicated that I was headed west, although toward what I didn't know. All I could see was that I was in some sort of mountain range, and the lower in elevation I got, the warmer it got.

Wherever I was, it wasn't winter like I originally thought. There were still pine trees, but the snow vanished, which was lucky because I quickly came across a small logging road. Okay so there were humans here, that was a good sign even if they weren't friendly. Personally I'd rather take the Insurrection over the Covenant any day of the week and twice on Sunday. At least they were human.

I'd been walking for hours, following the road and continually heading west as I went. I was getting lower and lower in elevation as well. As dusk began to set in, I noticed a light appearing on the horizon ahead of me. It wasn't the orange and red of a sinking sun, but rather a warm gold color. It was the lights of a city.

Picking up the pace, I trotted to the top of the next ridge and took in the sight below me. There was a city sprawled out below me. The sky scrapers sitting at the city center were all lit up and aglow like massive pillars of diamond. Beyond the city scape was the city, with the edge of the far horizon panted a dark red as the sun sat.

This was nothing like the mega cities I had been in before. The sky scrapers were much too short, not stretching up to edge of the heavens. Also, none of the cities I had ever been in had airships flying around them. If I had to guess, this was probably some small remote colony world that the Covenant had either missed or bypassed for some reason.

None of that really mattered to me. All I wanted to do was find either someway to contact the UNSC or secure some transportation off world, or preferably both. Rather then follow the road into the city, I veered off and headed into the woods, the night vision on my helmet doing wonders to outline the trees around me as I went.

I may have preferred the Insurrection over the Covenant, but that didn't mean I was going to take any chances. Despite the alien threat, the Innies still hated the UNSC with a passion. Getting their hands on an ODST would be a hay day for them, and a very unpleasant experience for me. Needless to say, I was going to remain undetected until I knew as much as I could about this place.

As I emerged from woods on the edge of some kind of track, I deactivated my helmet's night vision. Power needed to be saved, and frankly there was enough moonlight that I could navigate fairly easily without it. At the far side of the track, I could see the lights from some kind of big building. It looked like a mansion or an estate of some kind. I figured this would be as good of place to start my intel gathering as any.

Stepping out onto the track was an instantaneous regret. I was suddenly blinded by headlights, and in the space of the blink of an eye, there was a horn and tires squealing, followed instantly by me being struck by something large and metal. I flew about a dozen yards before landing in an ungraceful heap before settling on my back. My armor took the brunt of the impact, but it still hurt like hell.

Sitting up a bit, I could see that a car had struck me. It wasn't any model that I'd ever seen before. It was black, not as sleek as your standard civilian car, and looked built for speed. I let my head fall back so that I was staring up at the night sky overhead. Despite being the supposed best of the best, I was wiped out. Having a combat drop go wrong, hiking down a mountain, AND being hit by a car? There are somethings that training just can't prepare you for.

A young woman appeared in my view. She had porcelain skin, raven black hair, and bright green eyes. The look on her face was one of worry and concern.

"Oh spirits, I didn't see you, are you okay?" she asked. Her voice sounded muffled and far away, like she was talking to me with my head underwater. With a groan, my head fell back against the ground, and I blacked out.

* * *

"I don't know, Asami, your roadkill keeps getting more and more complicated," Korra said as she looked the form over. She'd received a frantic phone call from the heiress, urging her to come over to the Sato Estate right away. When she'd arrived, she'd been escorted by a servant to a sitting room where she found Asami, Mako, and Bolin all standing over a man wearing black armor.

At least, Korra thought it was a man. It was impossible to tell with how thick the armor was, hiding any and all forms that might have distinguished a gender. On the coffee table beside the couch where the man was laying was several strange looking bits of gear and a backpack of some sort. Bolin was currently looking the backpack over, trying to find a way to open it.

"Thanks for coming so quickly," Asami said. Korra wasted no time in going to the man's side. If he was hurt, they needed to get him out of this armor so she could get a better look at him. The problem was, this wasn't any kind of armor she had ever seen before. The armor that the metalbenders on the police force vaguely resembled it, but that was a very big vague.

"Alright, we need to get this stuff off of him if I'm gonna look him over," Korra said. With that, herself, Asami, and Mako began trying to take the armor off. They didn't get very far, finding that the armor was far more complicated then it looked. Mako was the first to have some success, managing to take the helmet off.

The man's face was something of a surprise to everyone in the room. His face, despite being a sickly pale color, resembled someone who was peacefully sleeping. His black hair was a buzzed close to the scalp, and what looked like a burn scar sat on his left cheek. A few scars ran down over his forehead and eye as well, looking like something with claws had just barely grazed him. Overall, despite his scars he was actually somewhat handsome and youthful, not looking much older then themselves.

"He doesn't appear to be showing any signs of trauma, the armor might have taken most of the impact," Korra said as she bent a blob of water from a bowl and pressed it to his forehead.

"Where did he come from anyway?" Mako asked. Being a cop, it was his job to ask such questions.

"I don't know, he just stepped out in front of me on the track," Asami replied.

"You think he's an Equalist?" Bolin asked, "they did like their dark colors."

"No, whatever this is way to advanced for the Equalists. Besides, they haven't been active in months." Asami said.

"Either way, we need to get the rest of this armor off of him so I can see if there was any damage to his ribs," Korra said before returning the water to the bowl. Suddenly, his eyes flew open, causing Korra to take a hasty step back in surprise. They were a chocolate brown color, and they darted about the room, taking in every detail as quickly as possible.

"You're awake," Asami said, relief in her voice. The man didn't say anything, but rather continued to lie there and watch them, his body tense like a cat ready to pounce.

"How are you feeling? We tried getting this off so we could get a better look but we couldn't figure out how," Korra said, motioning to his armor as she spoke. Again, the man remained silent as he watched her intently, like he was trying to determine if she was friend or foe.

"What's your name? Can you understand me?" the Avatar asked, deciding to change tactics.

"James Durant, 11282-31220," he finally answered.

"Okay...James, can you tell me if anything hurts?"

"James Durant, 11282-31220," he said again.

"Why does he keep saying that?" Bolin asked, confusion on his face.

"It's a tactic soldiers use if they're taken prisoner and interrogated. You repeat your name and service number over and over so they can't get anything out of you," Mako explained.

"James, I know you're probably confused right now, but I can promise you that there are no enemies here. I'm a healer, and all I want to do is see if you're mid section took any damage from the car," Korra said. James scanned the room again, eying each of the occupants warily. Finally, after several moments of silence, he motioned for Korra to come closer.

"Help me sit up," he instructed. Both Korra and Mako helped him sit up into a sitting position. James' face scrunched up in pain as they went, but he made no noise in the process. Once he was fully upright, he took a few breaths and ignored the beads of sweat running down his forehead.

"Alright, you start by pulling on this strap here..." he started before spending the next fifteen minutes instructing them on how to remove the armor plates and the body suit underneath. When they finally got his bare chest into view, it was clear that the armor hadn't fully protected him from the car. His ribs were an ugly black and blue, almost green color.

"That doesn't look good," Korra said before bending the water from the bowl again. Instantly, James' eyes went wide and he started to slide back.

"What the hell?!"

"Relax, tough guy, this will make you feel better," Korra said as she started to move in on him. In a flash, James was off the couch and over the coffee table. His M6C appeared in his hand and was leveled right between Korra's eyes. The Avatar froze, while Mako's fists burst into flames and Bolin had his fists ready as well. Asami just took a few hasty steps backwards, knowing there was nothing she could do in this situation. The firebender was ready to roast the man alive, but hesitated. None of them knew what the weapon in his hand was, but the way he moved and handled it made it clear he thought very highly of its capabilities.

"Stay the hell away from me," James said as he took a few steps backward toward the entrance to the room. Korra returned the water to the bowl and held up her hands, taking a few cautious steps toward him.

"Listen, James, calm down," she said, her voice calm and sweet. He didn't even so much as budge on moving his weapon.

"I don't know who the hell you people are, but you're sure not UNSC," he said.

"What's a UNSC?" Bolin asked. James didn't answer, but continued to back away slowly.

"James, we're just trying to help you," Korra said, her voice keeping it's calm tone. By now, the man was at the door and reapplying the bodysuit with his free hand.

"Just stay away," he warned before he kicked the door open with his boot and disappeared into the hallway outside. Things in the room were quiet for a few moments before Asami had a phone picked up, telling the estate security to lock the place down.

"We need to find him and show him we're not a threat," Korra said as the heiress hung up the phone.

"And how exactly do we do that?" Mako asked.

"I don't know. But I get the feeling he won't go down easy. The faster we do this, the less people will get hurt."

 **And there you have it, the first chapter of the redone series. I decided to go with The Rookie as the new main character for a few reasons. 1: I was not at all pleased when I learned of his fate after the end of the Human-Covenant War. So I figured I'd give him a new fate, one that's a little more befitting of a playable Halo character. 2: the former main character, Spartan B170, wasn't going to pan out as a good character. Spartan IIIs, particularly at this point in the timeline, are a pain to keep canon. The fact that B170 had survived up until the Battle of Earth and was even in position to wind up fighting like he did was questionable to say the least.**

 **This isn't even taking into account the fact that a fully armored Spartan would flatten almost any enemy they came up against in the Avatar World. But an ordinary soldier, an ODST though? That's more of a fair fight.**

 **Enough of my ranting. Drop a review, leave a PM, let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. This one is a shorter one, but it's kind of a filler anyway.**

 **Oh yeah, that reminds me: I do not in any way, shape, or form own Halo or Legend of Korra. I mean, the wealth of owning both at the same time, can you imagine?**

 **Anyway, on with the chapter:**

I stumbled along the hallway, keeping the pistol leveled as I went. This place was nice, and I would have stopped to acknowledge that if I wasn't currently in combat mode. My situation couldn't have been much worse. I was wounded, in an unknown place surrounded by unknown people, wearing only about half of my BDU and having a pistol with a single mag in it. Training had situations like this, but nothing exactly on this scale.

Classifying the people in the room I had woken up in as enemies at this point wasn't something I could really do. They seemed to want to help, but the whole manipulation of water and fire thing really threw me off. I couldn't take chances, so putting distance between myself and them seemed like the logical step.

Accept for the fact that they had pretty much all my gear.

Crap.

Now I was going to have to go back and try to steal it out from under their noses. This wasn't exactly a problem per se. ODSTs, despite being trained to literally drop from the sky and make your day a living hell, are also trained in specialized warfare. Reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, or in this case; equipment retrieval. The problem was my current state of being at the moment. My ribs were slowing me down and I needed some form of treatment.

I had a medkit in my rucksack, but all it had was a can of biofoam. That wouldn't do any good, not while the skin remained unbroken. For a moment I briefly considered surrender and letting the girl who'd claimed to be a healer work on me, but I quickly brushed that off. I knew nothing about her, or her abilities, and I wasn't taking that chance. Besides, every single one of my drill sergeants, both alive and dead, would pound me into a small puddle of goo for even considering that option. Marines never surrender, and ODSTs take measures to ensure that if they're going to die, they'll take you and everything you love with them.

I quickly ducked into a side cubby along the hallway, watching as a small group of four men passed by in the hallway intersection up ahead. These guys weren't regular servants, they were more beefed up in appearance. They moved like they were former military, probably the security force of this place. Once they had passed, I continued on. I couldn't keep this up. Eventually someone was going to find me, and then I'd have a choice. I could either shoot them and slip away, or I could let them capture me.

Shooting someone was the last thing I wanted to do. It wasn't the fact that I couldn't do it, unlike some others in the Corps. Some troopers and marines hesitated when it came to killing humans, especially after fighting the Covenant for so long. Another thing that falls into the specialized warfare category is counter terror and counter contraband operations. That means fighting other humans, particularity the Insurrection. So could I shoot one of these people? Absolutely. However doing so would ruin any potential relationship I had with them from then on. If I shot someone, and then came to find out that they're my only way off world and back to the UNSC, I'd have royally screwed any chance I had.

"Hey, there he is!" came a male voice from behind me. I turned and saw two of the people who were in the room with me. One was the dark skinned girl who'd tried to get at me with the water, and the other was the tall guy with a red scarf and fire on his hands. I started to run, only to feel something wrap around my ankle and trip me up.

Landing was absolutely painful, but I didn't let that stop me as I started to push myself back to my feet. Looking down, I saw that the girl had bent a tendril of water toward me, turning it into ice and wrapping it around my ankle to stop me. Grabbing my pistol from the spot where it had fallen, I pressed the muzzle against the ice and squeezed the trigger.

The pistol discharged with a _Phew,_ and the ice tendril shattered into a million pieces. In a flash, I was on my feet and running again. Although my ribs slowed me down, a fact made painfully aware to me when the guy wrapped his arm around my throat from behind, trying to get me into a choke hold. I grabbed his arm and turned against him, flipping him over my body and smashing him down into a small end table.

This took a lot out of me, as I fell against the opposite wall for support. He looked up at me with rage in his eyes as he started to get back up, his fist bursting into flames as he came. I didn't let him get any further as I pistol whipped him. The fire around his hand went out and he hit the floor like a sack of potatoes, out cold.

I didn't get to celebrate my little victory. As I went to turn to face the girl, a block of ice impacted with the side of my head. I fell to the floor again, dazed from the strike. As my vision began to clear, I saw her standing above me, until she drove her fist into my face, knocking me out cold.

* * *

"This is the only way to be sure he doesn't try to run off again," Korra said as they looked down at James. He was floating face up in the mansion's pool, encased in ice from the neck down. Mako was sitting on a lounge chair with an ice pack pressed against his forehead. James' strike hadn't done any major damage, but the firebender was gonna have a headache for a while.

"So what about frostbite?" Asami asked as she inspected the weapon that he had been carrying. The rest of his gear had been moved into the pool room as well, as the heiress was trying to figure out what each individual piece did.

"We'll worry about that later. Right now we need to find out what caused him to flip out like that and make sure it doesn't happen again," Mako answered.

"Are we sure he's not an Equalist? I mean the way he reacted is kind of the way an Equalist would react," Bolin pointed out.

"We've already stated that the armor is way too advanced to be Equalist in origin," Asami said as she sat the pistol down and slid the helmet on.

"And even if he was some super advanced Equalist, why wait until now to show up?" Mako asked.

"Besides, did you guys see the way he reacted? I mean really see? It was like he'd never seen bending before," Korra added. In the pool, James groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He glanced around, taking in his surroundings and situation with a puzzled expression. Puzzlement turned into a frown as he caught sight of the ice block encasing him.

"You know, this is colder then it looks," he said.

"Only way to be sure you don't go around bashing people's heads in," Korra replied.

"In my defense, he came after me." Korra rolled her eyes, while Mako glared at the floating trooper.

"So who are you?" The Avatar asked.

"James Durant, 1128..."

"Yeah yeah we know that part," Mako interrupted, "what she means is who do you work for, why are you here?"

"Is there a commanding officer I can talk to?" James asked.

"Sorry pal, I'm off duty. It's just us," Mako replied. The trooper laid his head back in the water and let it float.

"In that case you're out of luck. I don't talk to Innie grunts."

"What's an Innie?" Bolin asked. James sat his head up and looked at them.

"Seriously?"

"It's a valid question, what's an Innie?" Asami asked as she took the helmet off.

"As in the Insurrection? The United Rebel Front? Any of this ringing any bells?" All he got were shaking heads and blank stares. James laid his head back in the water again.

"Never heard of the UNSC, never heard of the Insurrection, who are you people? Wait, you're not with the Covenant somehow are you?" he asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

"Sorry, you're three for three in this case," Korra replied, and he visibly relaxed.

"You know I gotta ask, what's the Covenant?" Bolin asked. James remained silent for several moments, as if he was running something over in his mind.

"Tell you what, get me out of here, and we can exchange information for information," he finally said.

"Information for information?" Korra asked, doubt in her voice.

"Yeah, you guys clearly want information I have, and vice versa. It's a win win for everyone."

"Except for the people you knock out," Mako said with a hint of venom.

"Don't attack me, I won't attack you, simple as that." The group all looked at each other before Korra assumed a bending stance. She bent the block of ice out of the pool and sat it on the edge of the water. Then she melted the ice, leaving James huddle his fists near his core in an effort to get warm again.

As he stood there shivering, the trooper inspected his exposed midsection. The ugly color had reduced significantly, leaving only a few bruises on his ribs. He turned his body a few times, getting a feel for how much pain he had before he closed the bodysuit.

"I see you worked on my ribs while I was out," he said.

"You should be sore for a few days, but take it easy and you should be back to normal in no time," Korra said.

"Thank you."

"Right. Now, let's get down to it." James spent the better part of a few hours explaining everything he could think of. He gave a brief history of the UNSC and the Insurrection, well except for the parts he knew were classified anyway. They all had different reactions. Mako seemed impressed, Korra and Bolin looked like two kids who were being told a fascinating story, and Asami was focused on the technology.

Occasionally they would ask questions, and James would answer to the best of his ability. Sometimes the answer to a question was classified, and sometimes he simply didn't know the answer. Then, he got to the point where the Covenant came into the story, and their reactions did a one eighty. As James went on, explaining what he knew from personal experience and what he knew was available to the general public, the others in the room grew more and more horrified.

The concept of whole worlds being burned until their surface was glass, or a death toll that climbed further and further into the billions with each passing day was a concept that they almost couldn't grasp. Hell, James almost couldn't grasp it, and he'd been in the mud fighting, seeing it all for himself.

"Why would they do such a thing?" Korra finally asked in a horrified whisper.

"I don't know. All I know is that we were losing so bad that I'm sure we had lost," James answered. He gave them the details of his last mission, not the objective, just a run down of events from him being dropped all the way up until Asami hit him with her car.

"So, now what's the deal with the with the water and what not?" James asked. To say that he was curious would have been an understatement. Korra spent the better part of a half hour explaining concept behind bending, the nations, and a general run down of the events that had occurred over the past six months.

"Well, that answers my question on how I'm gonna get back," James said when she finished. Simple fact was, he was trapped here, plain and simple.

"We should go talk to Tenzin. He'll have an idea on what to do," Korra said.

"He's the Councilman guy, right?"

"Yeah, well he was. Now that President Raiko is in office Tenzin just sits around on Air Temple Island all day," Korra said. James looked around at the others before shrugging.

"Oh well, couldn't hurt to talk to him," he said.

* * *

Tenzin was starting to pace in the gazebo. Granted he knew that Korra was, by definition, a fully realized Avatar now. But that didn't stop him from worrying. It was getting on into early morning, and Korra had been gone for hours. This wasn't the first time she had spent the night somewhere else besides the island either. The worrying part was that she usually phoned by now to say where she was or what she was doing. He came to a halt as another realization dawned on him.

If he was like this with Korra, he shuttered to even think about what he would be like when his daughters reached their teens.

As he turned to begin another loop of his pacing, Tenzin noticed Korra walking up the steps toward him. In the gloom following her was a tall young man with buzzed black hair. At first, he thought it was Mako or Bolin, but another look quickly dismissed any possibility of it being any one of the two bending brothers.

"There you are, I was starting to get worried," he said, strolling up to Korra.

"Yeah, sorry about that. We've had some complications," she replied, rubbing the back of her head.

"I'm just happy you are safe. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, Tenzin this is James," Korra said.

"Hello, I am Tenzin," the airbending master greeted with a bow.

"Lance Corporal James Durant," James replied. His helmet was cradled under his arm, and he was wearing his full BDU again.

"A soldier?" Tenzin asked, looking back and forth between the two in confusion.

"We'd better go inside, we got a lot to talk about," Korra said. Despite it being almost four in the morning, Tenzin still had some tea made as they sat in a parlor room. James looked uncomfortable, almost comical as he sat on a couch in his armor while trying not to spill the cup of tea that was handed to him.

Korra and him took turns explaining the events of the night to Tenzin. Once that was done, James began to give the background and context he had given to the others. Tenzin, for his part, remained silent the entire time, speaking only to ask the rare question or two. Like the others, a look of horror came across his face as the ODST described the harshness of the Covenant and their campaign against mankind. By the time he had finished, almost another hour had passed.

"So you have no way of getting back?" Tenzin asked.

"As far as I know, no I don't. I also don't know if I'm the only one who wound up here," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Korra asked.

"From what I know, Slipspace is...tricky. I was apart of a much larger force of ODSTs that were being dropped into the city when the ship jumped. That's not including the thousands of Covenant that were on the streets at the time. It's possible there may have been others from both sides that wound up here as well."

"We'll worry about all that later. For now, dawn is almost upon us. We should get some sleep," Tenzin said as he stood up, "Korra, please escort our guest to the male dormitory."

"Thank you," James said, only to receive a very tired nod from the airbending master. Korra sat her cup to the side and motioned for him to follow her. The soldier sat his own cup down and followed her out of the room and out to a different building entirely. A dull purple was starting to form in the sky over the mountains to the east of the city, signifying the approach of dawn.

"Do you really think any of those Covenant things you were talking about could have wound up here?" she asked as they entered the male dormitory.

"I don't know. And honestly you had better pray they didn't," he replied. Korra looked a little pale, and James saw this. He gave her a grin of reassurance.

"You'll be alright," he said, "you got an ODST watching your back now."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that," she said.

"Not a lot of people do."

 _ **Fleet of Unflinching Condemnation. Deep Space.**_

"Fleetmaster, we have intercepted some signals from a nearby system, they appear to be human in origin, some kind of distress beacon," a lesser ranked elite reported to his golden armored commander. The fleet, by comparison to others within the Covenant Navy, was a small one. It consisted of only about fifteen ships, three CAS Assault Carriers and twelve CCS class battle-cruisers.

"Send a probe to the system and investigate the source of these signals. Where do we stand on preparations for the fleet to rejoin with _High Charity_?" the Fleetmaster asked.

"We are almost ready. Fleetmaster, if the probe should find a human world, what are we to do?"

"That will be decided when the time comes," the Fleetmaster answered. The basic orders the fleet had received when they had first split off from the _High Charity_ fleet in order to patrol this section of space were to explore and then return. However the orders of a High Prophet supersede any other order. And the Prophet of Truth's orders, which had stood since the day this war began, were as follows.

Attack and kill the humans wherever possible.

Which meant that if the probe located a human world in that system, the Fleetmaster would have no choice but to attack it with every ship in his command. The Fleetmaster's jaws separated a little as he grinned to himself. He was silently praying to the gods that the probe would come back with information about a human world. It had been so long since his fleet had gotten a chance to participate in the fighting.

Why should his brothers be the only ones basking in the glory of victory against the vile humans? What was stopping him from earning his own glory like them? The simple answer was the fact that his patrols never took him near human space. But today, it seemed his luck had changed.

Today, he may have found a new human world, and it was his alone to burn.

 **And that's a wrap. Some major foreshadowing going on in this chapter. Like I said before, new character, new plot, new everything. What do you think will happen? You know the drill, Drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question, let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, back with a new chapter. This one is also kind of a filler, but there's a little action in it so there's a plus side. With that, let's roll:**

"I still don't get how this thing stays in the air," I said. We were currently on the back of this giant sky bison thing that belonged to Tenzin. Somehow the two ton beast was able to not only get but stay airborne and fly without any visual means of flight. I'd even double checked for some kind of Covenant anti-gravity tech, but found nothing.

"As I explained earlier, Oogi and the other sky bison stay aloft by airbending," Tenzin said from his position at the reigns.

"Still trying to work that one out too," I muttered under my breath as I sat back in the saddle and folded my arms. I was still wearing my BDU, only the helmet was sitting beside me. Seeing as how I had no other clothing, I was stuck with my armor. That and I didn't trust anyone enough to leave my gear alone with them.

We were heading to the Police Headquarters. Korra seemed to believe my story, but Tenzin still remained doubtful and wanted a second opinion. Apparently there was some form of lie detector test they were going to put me through in order to see if I wasn't insane or not. I would have thought that the advanced gear would have been enough to convince them but apparently I was wrong.

After touching down on the roof of the HQ, we were greeted by a middle aged woman with graying hair, metal armor, and a pair of scars on her cheek. Her arms were folded over her chest, and her gaze was steely. I could tell just by looking at her that she was a force to be rekoned with.

"Is this him?" the woman asked as we climbed down from the sky bison.

"Yes, Lin this is James Durant. Mr. Durant this is Lin Beifong, Republic City's Chief of Police," Tenzin replied. She eyed me warily as I held my hand out to shake.

"Chief Beifong."

"Mr. Durant."

"Lance Corporal, actually," I corrected. She cocked an eyebrow and looked over my armor again.

"Mmm. Military man, eh? Alright, let's get too it," she said before turning and leading us up a flight of stairs into the building. I was expecting to be led to an interrogation room, but was surprised when we entered what appeared to be a communications center. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as Tenzin voiced his confusion on the subject as well.

"Lin, why are we in the radio room?" he asked.

"I don't need to tell if he's lying or not. The armor is far beyond anything either we or the United Forces have. Now this doesn't mean I trust him, but as circumstances have it, I find myself quite possibly in need of him," Lin said as we stopped by a radio. There was a young woman sitting in front of the radio with a pair of headphones on. She glanced up and noticed the Chief looking down at her.

"No change, Chief, the broadcast is still there," she reported as she took off the headphones. Lin motioned for me to take the headphones, which I did, looking at what frequency the dial was set to. It was currently one of the standard UNSC frequencies, but one that I hadn't really gotten a chance to try as of late.

"We started picking up that broadcast during the late afternoon yesterday. It hasn't stopped this whole time," Lin said. Curious, I put the headphones on and listened. It was a distant three toned signal, repeating itself over and over again. I recognized it as the distress signal of a drop pod.

"It's a distress signal," I said after a moment of listening, "do you know where it's coming from?"

"A valley located high up in the mountains. We've been preparing a small expedition to go up and investigate," Lin said.

"I'm going with. If there are any survivors, I know the counter responses that will keep you from getting killed," I said.

* * *

The ride into the mountains was a long and boring one via airship. I missed a good ole fashioned Pelican. Compared to this, those things were luxury vehicles. The crew that was coming along on this rescue mission were mainly metalbending cops. They were well trained men and women who utalised metal armor and navigated with a series of cables and pulleys built into said armor. At first glance, I figured it might stop a bullet or two. But against Covenant weapons? Not a chance.

I also wasn't sure about what I was allowed to tell them and what I wasn't. From what I could tell, they weren't an abandoned colony or anything like that. It was like they had been here the whole time. So what did that make this? Rediscovery? First Contact? What protocols dictated what happened here? Did said protocols even exist? At this point, I had more questions then answers. So it was best just to keep my mouth shut.

"We're over the area, we'll be inserting via cable," the Chief said as a side door was slid open. I had my helmet on with the visor polarized so no one could see my face, so I gave a short curt nod as a response. While the metalbenders descended via their own cables, I attached my own to the hull of the airship and slid down.

As my boots touched the ground, I had my M7S up and at the ready, scanning the area around us. We were in a small clearing at the bottom of a rather narrow valley. On both sides of us, large cliffs of stone rose skyward. Pine trees littered the valley floor, save for the clearing we were in. There didn't appear to be any sign of human life anywhere.

The VISR in my helmet, on the other hand, told a different story. It was pinging a distress beacon, and it was close, maybe a mile or so up the valley. I held my hand up flat as a board and jabbed in the direction we needed to go before setting off. We covered the ground quickly with me in the lead. Despite having urban training, these guys were doing a decent job of keeping up.

Finally, we found the source of the beacon. It was a single SOEIV pod, half buried with a tree lying on top of it. Based on the damage to the forest around it, the pod had come in at an angle, made a hard landing, and ended up with this tree on top of it.

As I got closer to the pod, I felt my heart sink. The door was long gone, and a good portion of the inside was scorched. Whomever this pod had belonged to, they had been unfortunate enough to have lost their door early into the drop. Which meant they had been ripped free of the craft and then burned up in the atmosphere.

I sighed to myself before I looked over the inside of the pod, hunting for anything that was salvageable. To my surprise and delight, I found that while the occupant may have been gone, their weapon was still intact and in good condition. With a little prying, I managed to yank the sniper rifle free of its housing and looked it over.

The Sniper Rifle System 99D-Series 2 Anti-Materiel, or SRS99D for those who don't wish to try and say the whole mouthful, was the standard sniper rifle for the UNSC. It was a beast of a weapon, capable of taking down even the largest of Covenant foot soldiers with a shot or two. It had a range of about a mile and a half with impressive penetrating power, so much so that I'd even heard stories of marksmen taking down Covenant tanks with it.

Downside to all that power was that it was bulky as hell. From butt to muzzle, the damn thing was almost as long as I was tall. Each magazine only held four shots which made carrying extra ammo for it a bitch as well. But in the end it was worth it, cause if you could keep a level head, not only could you kill your target, but also your target's cover and the five tangos behind him as well.

So that's how I ended up lugging that big ass rifle through the forest, cause frankly, I wanted to be absolutely sure that anything hostile we came across died. Lucky for me though, we didn't have to hike very far before I picked up another beacon. This one was coming from even further up the valley, which was starting to get much more narrow.

Suddenly, the radio inside my helmet cracked to life. In an instant I came to a halt, my hand at the side of my head, turning a knob in order to try and clear up the signal. The Chief noticed me stopping, stepping in front of me and waving her hand to see if I responded.

"What is it, trooper?" she asked. I didn't answer, but continued to turn the knob. Someone, somewhere in this valley was broadcasting. But the walls were causing too much interference for it to get out. If I could just get the right frequency...

 _"_ _Rookie, you out there? Respond, that's an order."_ I blinked, stunned at both my success and the voice that had just come through the comms. It was Gunnery Sergeant Buck. He was alive. And if he was alive, then the others in my squad probably were as well. I don't think I'd ever felt so relieved in all my life.

"Gunny? Is that you?" I sent out.

" _Rookie?! Thank God, finally! I've been trying to raise you for a day and a half. What's your status, trooper?"_

"Green, Gunny."

 _"_ _Good. The Captain almost has our equipment back up and running, we should have VISR shortly. What's your location?"_ I watched as new information about the valley ahead was downloaded by my VISR. From what I could tell, all of the squad except Micky had come down relatively close to each other. Wherever the last member of the squad was, he hadn't come down with the others.

 _"_ _Make your way to us, Rookie, double time. We got a whole mess to sort out."_

"Um, Gunny, about that. I brought some help from the locals.

 _"_ _Civies?"_

"Not exactly."

 _"_ _Innies?"_

"No."

 _"..._ _Covenant?"_

"No. I'll let you see for yourself, Gunny. You ain't gonna believe it," I said before killing the comm link. The Chief was looking at me expectancy as I hoisted the sniper rifle up onto my shoulder.

"There's a squad about a half mile up the valley. Stick close to me and don't do anything reckless if you don't wanna get shot," I said.

* * *

Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck, more commonly referred to by his men as Gunny, was in a better mood then he had been that morning. Earlier, there had been two members of his squad missing. Now there was only one. Micky was still missing, no sign of either the man or his pod, which means he could have come down anywhere.

The small campsite they had sat up was in a clearing along a stream. Actually, calling it a campsite would have been generous. Aside from a small campfire and some broadcast equipment, there was really nothing else. Dare was currently tweaking on the equipment, getting a little help from Dutch while Romeo was standing a short distance away, his eyes scanning the tree line for any signs of hostile life.

Buck was on guard duty, same as Romeo. Occasionally he'd swap out with Dutch, which was how they'd made contact with the Rookie in the first place. Hearing the new guy's voice had relieved the Gunny's stress some, but it was no where even close to being totally gone. Who were these so called locals that the Rookie was bringing with him? Were they friendly or hostile?

"Do you trust this greenhorn not to get us killed?" Dare asked as she appeared at his side. Buck depolarized his helmet visor so that she could she his face. The Captain in question wasn't wearing her helmet. Somehow it had gotten lost and separated from her during the drop, leaving her head and long blonde hair exposed to the air.

"He's a Helljumper, Veronica. You know there's no such thing as greenhorns amongst us," Buck replied.

"My question still stands, Buck."

"I read his file, which was why I chose him. The kid knows what he's doing. If he says he's found help, that's good enough for me."

"And what if it turns out he's wrong, and we're on a planet full of hostiles?" Buck polarized his visor again.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he answered. The sound of a branch snapping caused both Buck and Dare to ready their weapons. As the crunch of multiple footsteps trampling through the underbrush reached their ears, Buck leveled his MA5C assault rifle, ready to tear apart anything and everything that might have come out of those trees.

Thankfully, it wasn't some alien monster poised to roast them with plasma, or some local fauna looking for it's next meal. It was the black armored figure of an ODST with a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. Buck almost dropped his rifle in relief, if it wasn't for the armored figures emerging from the trees behind the Rookie.

None of them appeared to be armed, but they had their hands raised like they were ready for a hand to hand combat situation. Ahead of them, just behind his lost trooper, was a middle aged woman wearing a slight variant of the others armor. She had gray hair, fair skin, and a pair of scars on her cheek.

"Rookie, glad to see you made it. I take it this is the help you were referring to?" Buck said, lowering the rifle. He still had it pressed to his shoulder, ready to raise it and unleash it's power if need be.

"Yes. Gunny this is Chief Beifong, she runs the police force of a city not too far from here," the Rookie reported.

"Lin Beifong, Chief of Police, Republic City," Lin said, stepping forward and introducing herself.

"Captain Veronica Dare, and this is Gunnery Sergeant Buck. How did you know we were here?" Dare asked.

"We heard a distress beacon coming from this valley and came to investigate," Lin replied.

"Distress beacon? We haven't activated any beacon," Dare said, confused.

"There's another pod a little ways down the valley from here, we picked up it's beacon," The Rookie said.

"Another pod...any sigh of Micky?" Buck asked. James just shook his head, but otherwise remained silent. The gunny sighed at that.

"Damn. Well Chief we could use some help. Our jump got scattered all to hell, and we don't know if there are any survivors aside from us," he said.

"We'll help out however we can," Lin said. Both Dare and Buck stole looks at each other, despite the fact that the latter's visor was still polarized.

"Might as well take it, gonna need all the help we can get," Dutch said over his shoulder.

"Alright fine. We'll head back to your HQ and hammer out the details. It'll be nice to get out of these woods anyway," Buck finally said. Veronica shot him a glare due to the fact that she had been overruled, but he ignored her.

"You mean I can finally take a dump without it being in a hole I dug myself? Things are looking up!" Romeo said.

"Romeo, remember when I told you to shut up? Consider that order reinstated."

* * *

"So let me get this straight, you guys have no contact with the rest of humanity at all?" Buck asked. He, Dare, and James were standing in Lin's office. Korra, President Raiko, and the Chief herself were also in the room, making it rather cramped. All three of the UNSC personal had their helmets off and their weapons had been left outside the room so as to settle down Raiko's personal guard. The only reason they weren't in here now was because both Beifong and Korra were renowned benders in their own right. They could protect the President if things went sideways.

Upon the return to Republic City, the equipment that had been salvaged had been stored in the police lockup and then placed under armed guard by Romeo and Dutch. Protocol was sketchy at best in this situation, so they were playing things close to the vest in order to be on the safe side. Raiko had been brought in and informed of what was going on, showed the advanced tech and gear as proof, and now they were conducting negotiations of sorts.

"Up until recently we had no knowledge of life beyond the bounds of this planet. And to be perfectly honest, I'm still not fully convinced that you are who you say you are," Raiko said.

"While I can't say that I blame you, that's not really our concern. Right now, our main priority is making contact with the UNSC," Dare said.

"And that's another thing. Say we do make contact with this UNSC of yours, how will they react? How do we know they won't subjugate us to some kind of colonization?" Raiko pressed. Dare and Buck looked at each other. Neither one of them knew how the UNSC was going to react to this. As far as they knew, nothing like this had ever really happened before. They were treading in unknown waters here.

"Better them then the Covenant," James muttered under his breath.

"Look, Mr. President, chances are the UNSC will probably just ignore you. They've got enough on their plates with the Covenant, a small backwater world would be the least of their problems," Dare said.

"Unless you come under attack by them, in which case if you're allied to them they'll send troops to help. And trust me, you'll want their help if the Covenant ever find this place," Buck added.

"Personally I think we should keep quiet. If what you say about these Covenant are true, we won't stand a chance against them. And what better way to get their attention then to just start broadcasting blindly into space?" Lin asked.

"And what happens to them? We can't just leave these people to their own devices," Korra countered.

"Both of your opinions are noted," Raiko said, silencing the two women, "but the fact remains that no one trusts each other. And nothing beneficial for any side can get done unless that is established."

"What about a trade?" Dare asked.

"What kind of technology did you have in mind, Captain?"

"Oh no, not that. We're not authorized to trade any military equipment. What I was suggesting is that we lend one of ours to you for whatever assignment you choose as a sign of good faith," she proposed. This clearly got both Lin and Raiko thinking.

"Hm. The negotiations with the Earth Kingdom are coming up," Lin said.

"Yes, yes they are. Avatar Korra, you are suppose to mediate at these negotiations are you not?" Raiko asked.

"Yes..."

"And you still have no bodyguard, correct?" Korra's eyes went wide when she realized where he was headed with this.

"Wait, you don't mean..."

"Then it's settled. We will assign one of yours to be the personal bodyguard of Avatar Korra. Who did you have in mind?" Raiko asked, turning back to the troopers.

"Lance Corporal Durant," Buck said, motioning toward James who had remained silent and at attention the whole time. If he had an objections to the assignment, he didn't show it. Korra, on the other hand, was very up front with her opposition to this.

"Now hang on..."

"The Lance Corporal seems like a capable man. Alright, we have a deal," Raiko said. With that, the meeting came to an end. Korra waited until the others had filed out of the room before she turned on Lin.

"I don't need a bodyguard," she hissed at the metalbender.

"I know you don't. But politics are politics, kid, it's best to just go with it for now," Lin replied. The Avatar took a few breaths and began to simmer down. She wasn't happy about it, but she had to admit when it came to bodyguards, she could have done way worse. He wasn't that bad on the eyes either, assuming he didn't wear his helmet.

Outside the office, Buck, Dare, and James began to march down to the lock up. Although he hadn't known him for that long, Buck could tell that something was bothering the other trooper. Veronica had yet to pick up on it, probably because she had just joined the squad.

"What's the matter, Rookie? Don't like a babysitting job?" he asked. The Rookie didn't answer, but rather gave a short terse shake of his head to indicate that wasn't the case.

"Well I have to say I can't blame you, as far as VIP's go, you could do worse. So what's bothering you?"

"Something that Beifong said, Gunny. 'Bout how broadcasting might attract the Covenant," James said. Veronica stopped and turned to face the ODST.

"You think the distress beacons from the pods might attract the Covenant?" she asked, putting two and two together. Durant shrugged, indicating he wasn't fully sure. But now that the seed was planted, it was enough to get the others thinking.

"Hm. The beacons are what led the locals to us, there's no telling who else could be listening. Not to mention we have no idea where here is, exactly," Buck said, placing his hand on his chin.

"If we're in Covenant space, it's entirely possible we could be attracting some very unwanted attention," Dare added.

"We should make shutting down the remaining beacons our main priority," Buck said.

"I agree."

"What about me?" James asked.

"You keep on with your assignment, Rookie. We'll take care of the beacons," Buck answered.

"And if the Covenant show up?"

"We'll worry about that if it happens."

 _ **Village of Wai. Earth Kingdom/United Republic Border.**_

It was night time, with a thunderstorm threatening to descend upon the small village. Nothing but wide open prairie surrounded the village on all sides, making it seem like an island in a vast ocean to it's residents. Wei existed because it sat on a crossroads near the border, making it a rest stop for travelers making their way across from both sides. Upon this night, however, the people of Wei were receiving some very different visitors.

From out of the storm came three purple colored craft. They were bulky, and they flew without any visible form of propulsion. The Type 52 Troop Carrier, or Phantom as it was known amongst the UNSC ranks, was a formidable foe to any who found themselves within it's sights. Part troop transport, part gunship, all bad news.

The three craft came to a hovering halt just outside the outskirts of the village, their floodlights illuminating the town. Gravity lifts located near the rear of the craft came to life, deploying several blue armored Sanghelli along with a single red colored officer. By now, the people of the village were starting to emerge from their homes, curious to see what was going on.

 _"Leader, what should we do with the settlement?"_ one of the Elites asked, speaking in their own tongue. The red armored giant stepped forward and regarded the humans with a mild curiosity. He'd seen humans before, fought against them. The unarmed ones, like these before them, usually fled in terror.

One of them stepped forward before the rest. He was wearing some ornate clothing, setting him apart from the others. The Elite drew his Type 1 Energy Sword from his side, but didn't activate it. His curiosity may have been getting the better of him, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be prepared.

"Greetings, great spirits. I am the leader of these people, how may we serve you?" the man asked, bowing before them. The Elite officer cocked his head to the side. It had been a long time since he was at the front lines of the war, and the translation software in his armor had not been updated to include the human languages. Still, despite his curiosity, he was a faithful follower of the Path.

With a snap hiss, the blueish white double blade of his sword sprang into existence. The man took a hasty step back in surprise, but it wasn't far enough as the Elite ran him through and lifted him high over his head. The man looked down at the Elite, his mouth agape as he hung impaled on the plasma blade. Letting out a grunt, the Elite threw the man from his blade, allowing his body to land at the feet of the villagers, his body and clothing still smoldering. Many of the villagers screamed and ran in terror.

 _"The words of the Noble Prophet are clear, Cleanse It!"_ Upon his order, the other Elites drew their Type 25 Plasma Rifles and opened fire. Blue plasma bolts sailed through the night, striking down humans as they fled or igniting the wooden buildings. The Red Armored Elite advanced with his brothers, keeping his sword activated should he have need for it.

However, this didn't seem to be the case. Many of the villagers had been cut down in the initial volley, and any remaining survivors were killed before they got within range of his weapon. A young human male suddenly appeared from around a corner, swinging his fist at the Elite. A large rock erupted from the ground, flew through the air and smashed into the Elite's chest.

His energy shield took the brunt of the impact, which was enough to force him to one knee, but not enough to completely knock him off his feet. The Elite roared in anger before springing forward and running the human clean through. He lifted him off his feet before smashing him back to the ground.

The human was left gasping for air as his wound slowly claimed his life. Looking down at his defeated opponent with disgust, the Elite officer raised his boot before bringing it down on the human's face, crushing his skull with a single blow.

When he had learned that he was to lead the vanguard force landing on this human world, the officer had believed that the humans would put up more of a fight. So far, this hadn't been war at all, it had been sport. Still, this was just a small outpost, which was why it had been selected as the first landing zone. The other humans on this world would put up more of a fight, of that he was sure.

There was no honor in it otherwise.

 **And that's a wrap for this chapter. After this, things are really going to start to get interesting. Remember to review, PM, or do something to let me know what you liked or didn't like about this chapter, and I'll see you all next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. You like action? I hope so, cause the action has finally started. So without further delay, let's get on with it:**

"Relax, Rookie, you look good," Buck said. James didn't answer, but rather tugged on the collar of the suit he was wearing for what must have been the hundredth time. They were standing in Air Temple Island's main foyer, with Buck wearing his BDUs while James was in an Air Nomad style suit that had been borrowed from Tenzin.

When he had first gotten this assignment, James had figured he'd be playing the role of silent, faceless sentinel, keeping watch over the Avatar while wearing his armor. Instead, he was playing the role of camouflaged protector, standing at the young woman's side the entire time while also blending in.

Logically, this course of action made more sense. The negotiations they were about to attend were intended to reaffirm some trade deals as well as settle a border dispute between the United Republic and Earth Kingdom. Having an armored soldier guarding the woman who was suppose to be mediating wasn't the best way to get the best results. Still, James would have preferred to be in his armor, rather then the woolen deathtrap he was in now.

"Ah good, it fits you well," Tenzin said as he appeared.

"Is the VIP ready?" Buck asked.

"Yes. We will be taking a sky bison to City Hall so as to minimize potential threats to Korra. The Representative of the Earth Kingdom is Ambassador Chung," Tenzin said.

"Rookie, you all set?" Rather then answer, the ODST showed where he had stashed a pistol on his chest. It had been stripped down to it's standard issue form for concealment purposes.

"Alright. Let's get this show underway."

 _ **City Hall, Republic City.**_

"You don't need to be at my side every single second," Korra muttered out of the corner of her mouth. James didn't answer, but rather continued to scan the crowd of diplomats around them. Many in the crowd were giving the ODST a wide berth. His scarred face and shaved head made it clear that he didn't exactly belong here. The fact that he had Korra on his arm eased their nerves somewhat, but not by much.

Korra was wearing the dark blue gown she had worn to the gala Councilman Tarrlok had thrown for her a few months earlier. What the soldier standing next to her thought about it, she had no idea. James spoke very little, to the point where it was frustrating just trying to have a conversation with him.

But Korra didn't press him on it. She could tell just by looking in his eyes that he was a man who was hurting. Not physically, although judging by some of the scars she had seen, there was plenty of that as well. No, he had the eyes of a man who was haunted by some very traumatic things. The war that he and his squad mates had escaped, the hellish nightmare of an ever advancing enemy that just couldn't be stopped, Korra couldn't even begin to contemplate such a thing.

"Avatar Korra, shall we begin?" Raiko asked as he appeared from the diplomats.

"Just tell me where to sit," Korra replied. The meeting that followed was relatively boring. Korra's place here was little more then a formal one, which meant that both her and James were basically just watching everything unfold. Well, attempting to watch everything unfold. A more accurate description of the Avatar's attempt to pass the time was keeping herself awake while the two sides droned on about trade relations.

Just when it seemed that Korra was about to pass out from boardom, a pair of men hurried into the room from opposite sides. One went to Raiko, while the other went to the ambassador from the Earth Kingdom. It was like watching a mirrored event as both messengers bent down and whispered something in the representatives' ear, slipped them a note, and then left the room in the same manner they had entered.

Korra perked up slightly as she watched these events unfold. The manner in which they had taken place, along with the faces of shock the two representatives now had meant that something was going on. James remained where he had been the entire time; a full two paces behind Korra with his arms clasped behind his back as he stood at attention.

"What is it?" Korra finally asked as the two sides of the table began to frantic whisper amongst themselves.

"It's the village we had intended to discuss at this very meeting," Raiko answered, "it would seem that this village has been destroyed by an unknown force."

"An unknown force?"

"Yes. There are no Earth Kingdom military units near that location," the Ambassador said.

"Nor any United Forces either. Both sides had agreed to keep their respective militaries at a minimum hundred mile distance until negotiations were over," Raiko added.

"Could it be bandits or something?" Korra asked.

"Unlikely. Bandits and rebels are hardly this organized," the Ambassador said.

"Indeed. Ambassador Chun, with permission from your country, I'd like to send a task force of the United Forces to investigate this attack," Raiko said.

"Absolutely not! Wai is Earth Kingdom territory. Her Majesty's Royal Army will be the ones to investigate," Chun replied.

"With all due respect, Ambassador, Wai is one of the reasons we are at this negotiation table. The United Republic has just as much claim to that village as the Earth Kingdom does," Raiko countered.

"If I might interrupt..." Korra started.

"I'll have you know that the Queen herself fails to recognize the United Republic as a legitimate nation. The only reason we are at these negotiations is because the other nations refuse to work with us unless we work with you," Chun said, ignoring her.

"I don't care what the Queen thinks. The United Republic is a recognized by the Fire Nation, Water Tribes, and the Air Nation. Even the Earth Kingdom sighed the treaty that allowed the formation of it's existence," Raiko countered.

"Enough!" Korra yelled, gaining the attention of all others at the table. All eyes turned toward her, expecting her to say something. This caught her a little off guard, but she quickly regained her confidence.

"Why don't you send a joint task force? That way you can figure out what's going on without violating the terms of agreement," she said. Both men stroked their chins in thought.

"The Avatar's plan seems sound," Raiko said after several moments of thought.

"Indeed. I'll coordinate with our command structure and get this task force underway," Chun said.

"And I shall do the same with ours. Until the task force's findings are returned, this meeting shall be adjourned," Raiko said, bringing it all to a close.

 _ **Village of Wai. Thirty Six hours later.**_

The airship touched down just beyond the edge of what I could only assume was the remains of what had once been a village. Just about all of the wooden and straw structures were little more then smoldering remains. The sky was dark and filled with smoke and embers fell from the sky like glowing orange snowflakes. A nearby pine forest was glow with flames as it burned with an uncontrolled wildfire.

I held my M7S at the ready, scanning the shattered remains of the village with an eagle eye. So far, we hadn't seen a single sign of life.

 _"Alright, Rookie. The feed is good, we see everything you see,"_ the gunny's voice said in my ear. He and Captain Dare had insisted that I accompany the task force that had been assembled for this mission. If nothing else then to maintain the peace between the two sides. In reality, I figured they were just as curious about what was going on here as everyone else was.

I acknowledged his transmission by holding a thumb up in front of my visor before continuing with what I had been doing. The United Forces and Earth Kingdom troops were spreading out, their hands held at the ready should they suddenly find a need to bend. That was another reason I was here. If we found ourselves engaged by an enemy, Buck and Dare wanted to know what exactly these people were capable of. I'd tried to explain some of it based on what I had seen, but in the end it was hopeless. Footage was better then an eyewitness testimony anyway.

It was about this point that I found my first body. A man wearing eloquent green robes. He had two burn marks side by side in his middle, one set on the stomach and the other on his back. I knelt down and rolled him over so my helmet's camera feed could get a look at it as well.

 _"Are those burn marks?"_ Dare asked.

 _"Looks like a wound from an energy sword,"_ Buck answered.

 _"That might not be the case. Initial reports claim that there are people with the ability to manipulate fire. This could be a result of something like that,"_ Dare said. Silently, I prayed she was right and this was just some sort of firebender's work. Working my way further into the village only served to dash those hopes. Any tracks that might have been on the ground were long gone, washed clean by the recent thunderstorms that had shook the area. The bodies, however, were still in the twisted positions they had been in when they had died.

I rolled the body of a middle aged woman over and silently cursed. Her eyes were wide open and glazed over as she had fallen face down when she died. It was apparent that she had been fleeing whatever had attacked here. Her back was badly scorched, her clothing and flesh, what little of each had survived, having been fused together by the heat. I'd seen these kinds of wounds before.

 _"Those are plasma burns,"_ Buck said in my ear.

 _"It can't be. There's no way the Covenant could be here without us knowing, could they?"_ Dare asked, suddenly sounding unsure of herself.

 _"That was how Reach started."_

 _"If this is true, we need to put everyone on high alert. Initiate WINTER CONTENGENCY."_

 _"These guys aren't UNSC. Even if they listen to us, they won't be prepared. Rookie, do what you can to get that Task Force out of there and get back here as quickly as you can,"_ Buck ordered.

"Rodger that," I said before killing the comm link. I made my way back toward the airship, where a Lieutenant Mao from the Earth Kingdom was in charge. The Lieutenant was busy directing troops, sending them into the ruins to look for survivors. Judging by the state of the buildings, I highly doubted they would find anything other then more dead bodies.

"Sir, we are underequipted to deal with the danger that is here. We should pull out immediately," I said. Mao looked at me with a mild disinterest.

"Corporal Durant, was it? As much as I appreciate the concern, we are more then capable of dealing with a few rouge firebenders."

"It's not firebenders, sir. It's the Covenant."

"Covenant? What is the...?" he never finished as a bright blueish white plasma blade erupted from his chest. I raised my M7S, while the other troops around me raised their hands in preparation to bend. Their mouths were hanging open in shock as they watched their leader being lifted off the ground before being tossed aside like a rag doll.

In Mao's place, a red armored Elite shimmered into existence. It was a massive creature; seven and a half feet tall, reptilian in nature, with four mandibles for a mouth. Holding aloft it's still ignited energy sword, the Elite let out a roar, it's jaws stretching out as it bellowed.

"What is that?!"

"Take it down, take it down!" The soldiers around me began to bend their respective elements toward the Elite. Suddenly, the air was literally abuzz with blue plasma bolts. All around us, Elites with plasma rifles unveiled themselves and caught us in a crossfire. Men screamed as they were hit and their bodies were cooked inside the melting remains of their armor.

"AMBUSH!"

I was on autopilot, focusing my sub-machine gun on the officer directly in front of me before unloading on it. The silenced weapon unleashed a deadly spray of lead, causing the red armored giant's shield to flare and then fail. It stumbled backwards as I finished emptying the clip into it, tearing it's body apart.

The survivors of the initial burst of plasma fire rallied around me, throwing boulders and fireballs at our attackers. A few quick thinking earthbenders even bent quick barricades of stone so we could have some cover. I slammed a new clip into place and began firing short bursts at our attackers. I'd wait until an earth or firebender brought down an Elite's shield, and then fire a burst at the alien, either killing it or wounding it in the process.

"What do we do?!" one soldier asked as he ducked for cover behind one of the barricades, his fist alight with flames.

"Fall back to the airship, everyone fall back!" I ordered as I reloaded my weapon again. There weren't many of us left, and I didn't doubt that the ones who had been out on patrol when the ambush started were all dead. I gave the troops cover fire as they ran for the open hatch in the back of the airship before following them.

The airship lifted off, leaving the village behind. What few survivors of the task force that were on board were panting and sweating, exhausted from their efforts. I was still on edge, knowing full well that we weren't even close to being out of this mess.

"What were those things?" the firebender asked.

"Elites. A vanguard force of the Covenant," I said.

"What's the Covenant?" someone toward the back asked. I didn't bother to answer.

"Hey, we got a contact of some sort incoming!" came a yell from the bridge of the airship. I made my way forward and peered out the widow in the direction the crew member was pointing. A pair of purple craft were heading towards us at a high rate of speed, twin trails of energy streaking behind them as they came. I felt my blood run cold.

"Banshees! Everyone brace for impact!" One of the craft belched a green cylinder, which slammed into the side of the airship and exploded. Alarms and fire raced throughout the craft as the crew lost control and the airship began to lose altitude, falling toward the mountains that were blow us now.

"Airship unit 1-6 to Republic City, we are going down, repeat we are going down," one of the crew said into a radio.

"Prepare for crash landing!" The airship shattered several pine trees like match sticks as it slammed down hard onto the mountainside, and everything went dark.

 _ **Fleet of Unflinching Condemnation. Orbit.**_

The golden armored Fleetmaster looked down upon the blue and green ball below. Initial reports returned from the vanguard that had landed on the surface seemed to confirm that this human world was far more primitive then the ones that had been encountered before. The lack of craft from the planet's surface to engage them seemed to reenforce this narrative. Despite the clear advantage that he had, the Fleetmaster had refrained from engaging the planet. Contact with _High Charity_ had been spotty since their patrol had begun, and had totally broken down over the past couple of days.

"Fleetmaster, the vanguard has engaged a human military force. The humans are aware of our presence," a lesser ranked Elite reported.

"Has contact been reestablished with _High Charity_?" he asked.

"No, Fleetmaster. Our signal has been silent."

"Send a single ship back to the main fleet and relay news of our discovery that way," he ordered. The lesser Elite placed his fist over his chest in salute before bowing and walking away to carry out the order. Another Elite, this one the commander of the ship they were standing on, stepped forward.

"What of the rest of the fleet?"

"The time of hiding in the shadows is over. Commit the three assault carriers to the three largest settlements on the planet. The battle cruisers will conduct raids against the remaining population until a reinforcement fleet from High Charity arrives," he said. The Shipmaster placed a fist over his chest.

"By your will, Fleetmaster."

 _ **City Hall, Republic City.**_

"This was the last bit of footage we got before the feed was lost," Dare said as she showed a video pad to Raiko, Lin, Tenzin, and Korra. On the screen were the last images from James' helmet feed as he and several other troops in the task force were ambushed by Elites.

"By the Spirits...what are we looking at, exactly?" Tenzin asked.

"We believe it's an advance landing party of a Covenant invasion. Lance Corporal Durant and the rest of the Task Force stumbled across them by accident and were caught in a crossfire as a result," Buck answered.

"And what is the status of the Task Force now?" Raiko asked.

"Unknown. The airship that served as a transport sent out a distress call before going down somewhere in the mountains," Lin reported. The President folded his hands in front of his face in thought.

"Do we know what these beasts will do next?" he finally asked.

"Now that we've outed their force, the Covenant will commit themselves fully to the fight. Our only hope is to get a message out to the UNSC and have a rescue fleet send out so evacuations can begin," Dare said.

"And until that happens, what can we do?" Dare and Buck looked at each other.

"Fight. Hold out as long as you can. Pray," Dare said.

"And run," Buck added. The whole office shook with a small earthquake. For a moment it stopped, and then the shaking resumed again, this time with much more intensity before stopping again. Everyone in the room looked at each other.

"Earthquake?" Korra asked, a hint of hope in her voice.

"Explosion," Lin corrected in a deadpanned manner. Everyone stood from their place and hurried outside. Air raid sirens were beginning to sound all over the city. In the sky from the direction of the sea came a monstrous white colored ship that vaguely resembled a fishhook. It easily stood out against the red sky of the setting sun behind it.

"What is that thing?" Korra asked.

"Covenant ship, CAS class assault carrier," Dare answered. As she spoke, the ship fired a few plasma torpedoes. The bolts of energy sailed from the ship and into the city, exploding as they struck a few skyscrapers and setting the buildings alight.

"Tenzin, begin the evacuation. I'll contact General Iroh and get you as much cover as I can," Raiko said.

"You're going to need help. That carrier has a full contingent of Covenant ground troops," Buck said.

"That's where you and your men come in, Sergeant. We have no knowledge on how to fight these things. While Captain Dare is trying to get a distress signal out, I need you and your men helping us," Raiko said. Buck and Dare shared another look. They hadn't wanted to get involved with this world. This turn of events had changed all that.

"I'll see what we can do."

 **And cut. The Invasion has begun. Now, someone pointed out that ODST took place around the time of the beginning of the Covenant Civil War, when the Elites stopped following the orders of the Prophets. For that I would like to clarify some things.**

 **ODST takes place over the afternoon and into the night of October 20th-21st. The Great Schism didn't actually begin until the Battle of Delta Halo, two weeks later on November 2nd-3rd. Helljumper is set within the timeframe of these two weeks, when the Elites were still loyal to the Covenant. That and there's also some major communication errors with this particular fleet, but that will come into play later.**

 **As always, please read, review, leave a PM, ask me a question or ten, or state what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter. I don't have much to say at the moment, so let's get on with the show:**

The first thing I heard as I started to wake up was the sound of flames crackling. I slowly opened my eyes to find the inside of the airship an absolute wreck. Everyone else inside was dead, and fire was slowly starting to spread. I glanced to my left and then my right. It was dark out, that much I could tell. My helmet was still on my head, and nothing seemed broken both on my equipment and my body.

From what I could tell, the airship was laying partly on its side and had embedded itself into a mountain side. The only way out was straight forward, through the shattered remnants of the bridge's viewing glass. Activating the night vision on my helmet, I watched as everything came into focus, despite being tinted green. My M7S was a short distance away from me on the floor, and I quickly recovered that.

"Please! I'll give you money, I'll tell you secrets, I'll give you anything just let me live!" came a voice from outside. I crept forward, using my armor's dark color to blend in with the shadows as I peeked outside to see what was going on. There was an airship crew member on his knees with his hands held up in surrender.

In front of him were a red and a few blue armored Elites. But that wasn't all. There were about four or five orange armored Grunts, and a pair of Jackals with Type 51 Carbines. All of them were illuminated by a the spotlight of a Phantom drop ship hovering overhead. The red armored Elite looked over the airship crewmember, taking a few steps closer and bending down to his head level.

After a moment of silence, the Elite straightened up and began to walk away as if the crew member wasn't worth his time. As he passed the Jackals, the massive reptilian alien barked something to the two creatures. In an instant, both had dropped their weapons and tackled the crew member with a ravenous hunger. The Grunts looked on with cocked heads while the Elites walked back to the drop ship's grav lift, ignoring the screams of the man as he was torn limb from limb.

I looked on helplessly, unable to do anything. Three Elites with my current load out would be a tough fight. Three Elites with Grunt, Jackal, and drop ship backup was suicidal. If I did try to help, we'd both have been meals for the alien freaks. So I waited in tense silence with my weapon at the ready, listening to the sound of flames and jaws chewing on flesh.

Finally a bark like order came from the commanding Elite, and all the aliens withdrew back to the Phantom. I held my position for several tense moments as the spotlight made one final sweep over the area before the humming sound of the Phantom faded away as it flew off. I stayed in the airship wreck as long as I could after that before the ever growing fire forced me to head outside.

Checking the compass on my HUD, I set off in the direction of Republic City, picking my through the underbrush with my weapon at the ready. I had a long walk ahead of me, and I wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest.

 _ **Three hours later.**_

I emerged from the trees on a ridge overlooking the city. It was about two in the morning now, based upon the clock in my helmet. The city had several fires burning all of the place. Hovering in the sky was a massive CAS-class Assault Carrier. It just hung there in the sky, silently, like a predator watching the city die. I double checked my weapons before heading down into the flaming nightmare that Republic City had become.

It took the better part of another two hours just to make my way back towards the Police HQ. The streets were crawling with Covenant patrols that I was forced to bypass and avoid. It didn't help that I wasn't overly familiar with the city layout either, so getting lost was fairly easy. When I did finally get there, I found the whole place ransacked and abandoned.

Just inside the main entrance to the Police HQ was a sandbag wall and several bodies. Dead Grunts lay sprawled out before the makeshift barrier, along with a few Jackels and even a couple of Elites. There were bloodstains on the floor, both Human and Covenant alike. Burn marks scorched the walls, places where plasma bolts had made impact.

Behind the sandbags were dead humans, their bodies scorched like the ones I had seen in Wai. From what I could gather, they had put up a decent last stand when the Covenant had attacked the HQ in force. A glint of something metal and shiny caught my eye on the floor, and I knelt down and picked it up to inspect it better with my night vision.

It was a bullet casing, from a rifle to be exact. The floor was littered with them, and the several of the Covenant bodies on the other side of the sandbags had bullet wounds in them. That meant that someone had stood here and fired at least one burst into the oncoming enemy. The only weapon that I knew of that fit the profile was the Gunny's MA5.

That meant that Buck had been here when this place had fallen to the Covenant. Which meant that there was the possibility that the others had been here as well. I set off deeper into the HQ, determined to find something of my squad. If not their bodies, then at least where they had been going. The further into the building I went, the more dead I found, along with several makeshift barricades made out of desks and chairs. Based on the amount of dead on both sides, there had been one hell of a fight here. Still, there was no sign of either my squad or Korra's little band of friends. Not ready to give up yet, I made my way down to the lockup, hoping to find something of use that could be scavenged.

Like the rest of the HQ, the lockup was pretty trashed. Bits of equipment that weren't missing entirely were little more then slag heaps. From the looks of things, my squad had cleared out the lockup and then torched whatever they couldn't carry. There were some supplies I was able to scavenge, a few mags for my M7S and even a sniper rifle with about twenty spare rounds. Attaching the rifle to the magnetic clamp on the back of my armor, I gave the lockup one last look over before heading back upstairs.

It was in the radio room that I found what appeared to be the remnants of a command post. Papers were scattered all over, burn marks lined the walls. An Elite was pinned to the wall next to the door, speared clean through by what appeared to be a section of ventilation duct. Across from it was a metalbender slouched against the wall, his armor and a good portion of his chest cavity having been torn open by an explosion of some kind. Looking closer, I noticed several shards of pink crystal embedded in his wounds. The poor guy had taken a full burst from a Needler and suffered the consequences.

Most of the papers and maps that were here were in Chinese, and therefore little more then gibberish to me. However, there was one map that caught my eye. It was a map of the city, with the Sato Estate having been circled in black marker. Underneath this were the words 'fallback point' written in English.

From the looks of things, my squad and the others had chosen to retreat to the Sato Estate, although the exact reason why had me a little puzzled. It wasn't fully outside of the city, and was well within range of Covenant strike craft. The only thing I could do now was make my way there and hope that they hadn't gotten themselves killed.

With nothing left to gain from staying here, I put the Police HQ behind me and began the long trek across the city. It wasn't easy, not by a long shot. I had to stick to back alleys the entire time, zig zagging my way back and forth through the shadows in order to avoid Covenant patrols. Sometimes a Phantom would fly overhead, and I'd have pause and hold my breath, praying that they wouldn't see me before pushing on.

There were no civilians to be found, well not ones that were alive anyway. Occasionally I'd come across a car that had been torn apart by plasma fire with it's driver slumped over the wheel and a passenger or two laying dead in their seats. But other then that, there was no one to be found. It seemed that evacuations had been put into place and they had been somewhat successful in getting people out of the city.

It was about ten blocks or so from the HQ when I came across the convoy. A line of five vehicles, all of them with the United Forces symbol on them. The lead and rear vehicle were jeeps, while the center three were armored trucks of some kind. From the looks of things, the Covenant had hit the convoy hard. One of the central trucks was on it's side, while the one in the rear had been forced off into a shop front and the one in the lead had gotten pinned between a fallen light post and a car. The forward jeep was upside down and on fire, while the rear looked like it had jackknifed to avoid something before it's occupants had all been killed.

I started toward the wreckage in order to look for survivors, but quickly came to a halt when a Phantom appeared around a corner and illuminated the convoy with it's spotlight. Falling back, I hid behind the wreckage of a burnt out car and brought up the sniper rifle. Through it's scope, I watched as a few Elites disembarked from the craft's lift and began to pick their way through the vehicles. The Phantom swept the whole of the convoy with it's spotlight again before it turned and flew off into the night.

Rather then slip away into the shadows, I continued to watch these Elites with curiosity. They weren't overly high ranking, with the leader being a red armor and the other two being blue. But something about this convoy had warranted them to come back and investigate it themselves, rather then sending Grunts or Jackals to do it for them.

As I watched, some movement in the cab of the lead truck caught my attention. I shifted my focus from the aliens to this point, zooming the scope in as close as I could and focusing the night vision so I could get a better view of what I was looking at. What I saw made me blink in surprise. It was Korra.

The young woman was wearing dark clothing and was currently trying to kick out the truck's windshield, apparently unaware of the Elites that were nearby. I pulled the scope's zoom out some and focused on the nearest Elite. If she attracted it's attention, I'd have to act fast in order to help. The Avatar's boot finally broke the glass, the sound of which attracting the nearby aliens. She didn't even realize she had company until the Elite I had been watching jumped onto the hood of the truck and leveled it's plasma rifle at her.

Before either one of them could react, I squeezed the trigger on the rifle. The gunshot echoed off of the buildings, and the Elite was knocked forward as the bullet caused it's shield to flare and then fail. However the creature was still very much alive, if a little dazed from the impact. Korra was the first to recover, shoving her fist out and bending a stream of fire straight into the Elite's open maw. It let out a wail of pain as it turned and leapt from the truck, a hulking pillar of fire illuminating the night.

I shifted my aim, turning the crosshairs to the red armored Elite. My trigger finger braced twice, firing off two quick shots. Like the first, the officer's shields failed from the first shot, while the second almost completely decapitated it. Before I could fully line up a shot with the last Elite, Korra burst forth from the truck's cab. She bent a large bolder from the street and hurled it, knocking the Elite off it's feet and causing it's shield to fail. Before the alien could recover, she was upon it, forcing fire down it's throat like she had with the first. The creature wailed in pain before finally dying, allowing Korra to step back and pant in an effort to recover her breath.

Picking myself up, I made my way forward while still scanning the rooftops for any sudden unwanted appearances. As I got closer, Korra's ears perked up to the sound of my approaching footsteps. She fell into a bending stance again as she turned towards me, ready for a fight. Although I could see her just fine thanks to my VISR, she was having trouble making me out due to the darkness and the color of my armor.

"Who's there?" she called. I stepped into the light of a small fire, allowing it to illuminate my form.

"Seems I can't leave you alone for one minute, Avatar," I said. Korra looked stunned as she lowered her fists.

"James?" Before I could react, she had vaulted forward and thrown her arms around my neck.

"Thank the spirits, you're alive, I knew it!" As happy as I was to see her, much less another human being in general, we didn't have time and we were highly exposed in the location we were in. I was forced to grab her by the collar of her shirt and drag her back a few steps so I could get a better look at her.

"We can't stay here all night. Where is my squad, where are the others?" I asked.

"Tenzin went back to Air Temple Island to get his family. Your Sergeant and Captain went ahead to Asami's place to clear it of any of those things. My job was to escort Raiko and his wife there once we got the all clear signal from them," Korra said. I looked from her to the wreckage of the convoy.

"The President?" I asked. She answered with a halfhearted shrug. It was clear just by looking that Raiko's chances of survival were slim. Still, I wasn't the type of person to leave a stone unturned. I made my way over to what had been the center truck in the convoy before peering in the back. The VISR illuminated the inside, revealing several bodies of United Forces personal. In the center of it all was the President with a large burn mark across the center of his chest.

The first lady was there was well, having suffered a similar fate to her husband with burns along the left side of her head. They had died clutching each others hands, clearly trusting in each other during their final moments. I pursed my lips beneath my helmet. Everyone in here had been dead for hours, there was nothing that could be done for them now.

"We need to go," I said to Korra as I turned away from the scene. She peaked inside the truck as well. Although the low light kept her from seeing everything, she still saw enough to comprehended what she was looking at. She hung her head, both in sadness and in shame.

"I'm a terrible Avatar. I was given the job of protecting someone and I couldn't even pull that off," she said in defeat.

"You were ambushed by the Covenant. You should consider yourself lucky you survived the encounter," I said.

"How...how am I suppose to handle this? How am I suppose to save the world? From this?" she asked, gesturing upwards toward the Carrier hanging above the city.

"I don't have the answers. What I know is that every alien within a five block radius heard the shots from my rifle and are more then likely headed here right now. So we need to move," I said. Korra could have her little break down later. Right now, our focus needed to be on moving out of the open and finding a safe place. My words must have convinced her of this, because she finally turned away from the truck and led the way into a nearby alley.

Ordinary I would have taken point, but Korra knew this city far better then I did. The only reason I had gotten this far was because I had pointed myself in a general direction and kept going until I got results. With her, we were making much better time, until we'd nearly bump into a Covenant patrol and have to backtrack in order to avoid them.

Dawn was approaching when we finally reached the northern water front and started following it east. The Covenant had blocked all the bridges with roadblocks, and I wasn't overly keen on the idea of swimming unless we had no other choice in the matter. We'd stopped in an abandoned warehouse under Kyoshi Bridge for a breather before either one of us spoke again.

"James I..." she started.

"Please don't call me that," I interrupted. I was using this moment to reload one of the sniper rifle's magazines with what spare rounds I had left while the rifle sat on an old table in front of me.

"But that's your name," she said, confused.

"That's my full name, but not the one I use," I corrected.

"Well then what do you go by?" she asked.

"Jim, or Jimmy is what I got called a lot." She shook her head at that.

"Doesn't suit you."

"My squad calls me Rookie."

"Not calling you that, either," she said. By this point I was done with my reloading. I picked up the rifle again and attached it to the magnetic clamp on my back.

"I usually went by initials when I was a civie: JD," I said. Korra gave me a look, cocking her head to the side as she studied me.

"That'll work. At least until I find something better," she said. My helmet was still polarized, so she could see me roll my eyes at her.

We left the warehouse behind and headed a few more blocks upriver. The sky ahead of us was starting to turn orange as the sun rose as we slipped into a small parking lot. We both went on point at the sound of crunching metal. A car flipped over as a Type 26 Assault Gun Carriage glided into the parking lot with us.

The Wraith was a massive dark purple monster, somewhat resembling a beetle with no visible means of touching the ground. It's main gun rose above the rest of the body like a scorpion's tale, primed, bristling with energy, and ready to fire. Rather then blast us, it simply moved closer, as if the driver was curious about is.

I looked around and realized just how much trouble we were in. We were caught in the open with no cover at all. If that main cannon fired, we'd be little more then black burn marks on the concrete before we'd even realized what had happened. If we ran, the secondary plasma cannons would cut us down in an instant. We only stood a chance if we could get behind it, which I was already formulating a plan on. A gutsy and frankly suicidal plan, but a plan none the less.

"What do we do?" Korra asked, falling into a stance with her fists at the ready. Before I could answer, a pair of rockets, one right after the other streaked across the parking lot and slammed into the back of the Wraith. The resulting explosion tore its way upward through the tank, causing the plasma cannon to detonate into a brilliant purple colored explosion. Korra and I threw up our hands, protecting our faces from debris and the sudden flare of heat. The body of the tank slammed down onto the concrete as it's anti gravity works failed. Purple colored flames danced from the now torn open shell of the Wraith.

We looked at each other before looking past the tank to where the rockets had come from. Kneeling on one knee in the door to another warehouse was an ODST in full BDU. He was reloading an M41 SPNKR, and his armor had red paint on it. As he finished reloading, he slipped the rocket launcher onto his back before drawing his own M7S. I almost couldn't believe my eyes.

"Micky?" I asked. He had been MIA for days, and now here was popping up out of the blue.

"Rookie?" We closed the distance between each other quickly, happy to see another member of our squad.

"Where have you been? It's been days," I said.

"My pod cashed into the river and I got rescued by some friends of mine. They're not exactly on good terms with the local establishment so we've been on the down low, until all this happened," Micky said, gesturing around them.

"We've been looking everyone for you..." I started, but stopped when my ears picked up the sound of an approaching Phantom. Both Korra and Micky heard it as well, and the other ODST motioned for us to follow.

"This way, quickly," he said before turning and leading us back toward the warehouse. Inside, we found a small group, about squad size of men and women wearing black body suits and gas masks. At sight of them, Korra instantly fell into a defensive bending stance.

"Equalists!" she hissed in surprise and anger, ready to attack. The Equalists fell into fighting stances as well, ready to face off against Korra. Only Micky and I remained the way we were.

"Hey, kill each other when we don't have the Covenant breathing down our necks!" I snapped. The two sides slowly eased out of their stances, however it was clear that they did not trust each other. Micky's helmet depolarized as he looked back and forth between the two sides with a confused expression.

"Did I miss something?" he asked.

"It's a long story," I answered. It probably was, and I didn't have the time or all the details.

"Right, we need to move, now," Micky said as his helmet polarized again. He led the way through the warehouse to an access entrance to the tunnels beneath the streets. I had to admit, it was way smarter then traveling out in the open in broad daylight.

"You think we can get to the Sato place from these tunnels?" I asked Korra. She pursed her lips in thought.

"We should be able to. The main reason Asami's place was chosen as the fall back point was cause of an old Equalist factory located under the Estate. They were gonna use it as a bunker and because it had access to the tunnels under the city," she said. So that's why the rally point was so close to the city. It was nice to know that the Gunny and Dare didn't just want a fancy place to hunker down in.

"This may be better then I thought," I said. Before I could take another step, Korra caught my arm and held me back.

"You think it's a good idea, trusting these guys?" she asked. I shrugged in response.

"I don't know what your beef with them is, but I do know that to the Covenant, we're all just a bunch of humans to kill," I answered.

 **And that's a wrap for this time. Please, I beg of you, drop a review or send a PM, ask questions, make statements. I want to know what you guys think. With that in mind, I'll see you all next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, I got a new chapter for you. This one is a touch on the short side, but it sets up some awesome fight scenes I have planned. Let's get on with it:**

The sewer tunnels were dark and wet, and they smelled. Well, I imagine they did. My helmet made it impossible for me to tell. A few of Mickey's Equalist friends had flashlights, and Korra was bending a large flame in the palm of her hand to make light.

As we advanced, Mickey took the lead, while I covered the rear of the group. The night vision on our helmets would help us see any threats long before the others would be able to, and our guns would stop the threats before they became a problem. At least, that was how it was suppose to work in theory. Even with two ODSTs and one of the world's most powerful benders in the group, the odds still weren't in our favor.

Despite the fact that the city above our heads was occupied by a Covenant force, I would still rather have been trying to sneak through the streets in broad daylight rather than hiding out down here. I wasn't afraid of the dark. No ODST is. Shadows and darkness are second nature to us, aside from being the embodiment of the term 'shock and awe'.

No, I was more worried about what these dark tunnels could have been hiding. The various races of the Covenant all had their little quirks, even if they fell in line and followed orders and what not. Jackals, when left on their own, tended to be some of the worst. Most of the other races were content just to kill you with a bolt of plasma. But Jackals? They'd eat you alive if given the chance.

But we weren't in the home environment of the Jackals right now. Every trooper with at least one tour of duty under his belt knows that tunnels and underground places belong to the Drones. Human sized bug like creatures capable of flight, Drones were the stuff of nightmares, especially if you had a fear of bugs. Agile, tough, and incredibly smart, a single Drone could be a challenge. A whole swarm could be a death sentence.

"Do you think we're safe down here?" Korra asked as she fell in step with me. I shrugged, but quickly realized that the darkness of the tunnel combined with the color of my armor meant she couldn't see me.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. The Covenant had a lot of time to secure the surface. It wouldn't surprise me if they had sent scout parties at the very least down here by now.

"What is it they want with us? Why have they come here?" one of the Equalists, a woman, asked.

"To kill humans," Mickey answered.

"That's it? That's the only reason?" Korra asked. It was clear she found it hard to believe that an alliance so advanced was driven by something so primitive.

"Covenant have never had another reason," I answered. There was some intel I had heard that suggested that the Covenant went nuts whenever some kind of alien artifact was found. But that fell under the classified category, so it wasn't worth mentioning. Besides, what I said was the truth. They would kill us all simply because we were human, they didn't need another reason besides that.

"Did you hear that?" one of the Equalists asked. We all paused and strained our ears, listening for anything out of the ordinary. For several tense heartbeats, there was only silence.

"I don't know, I think you're hearing things…"

"Wait, there it is again," the first guy said.

"I heard it that time too," Korra muttered. I had as well. A faint buzzing noise, echoing in the tunnel around us. Like the sound of giant beetle wings. Both Mickey and I raised our weapons, aiming into the shadows and standing on point. Something was down here with us, and I had a bad feeling I knew what it was.

"Contact. We got buggers," Mickey said, keeping his voice low.

"How many?" I asked, falling back so I was standing next to him, but aiming in the opposite direction.

"Just one, a scout. Saw it zip past in a tunnel junction up ahead," he reported.

"Buggers?" Korra asked, her eyebrow arched in confusion.

"Drones," I answered.

"Huh?"

"Big damn bugs," Mickey added. We needed to move, and quick. If the Drones didn't know we were down here yet, they would soon. The moment they knew about us, they would be all over us. As a group, we began to advance forward again with me falling back to the rear of the group again. My heart pounded in my ears as we went. A feeling of tension had settled over me, like I was waiting for anything to happen.

Suddenly the woman Equalist screamed in terror. I spun around and was just in time to watch a Drone carry her off up a vertical shaft. Before any of us had time to react, the tunnel was alight with bright green bolts of plasma. Drones on both sides of us, hidden in the shadows, had opened fire with their plasma pistols.

"Contact!" Mickey yelled before opening fire with his M7S. I did the same with my own SMG, firing short quick bursts at our attackers. The air was filled with screams as a few of the Equalists were hit by the plasma. Alongside this, there were the high pitched shrikes of the Drones as Mickey and I tore them to shreds. A wall of stone suddenly erupted from the floor of the tunnel, sealing off my end by essentially slamming the door in my face.

"Run!" Korra yelled before she unleashed a torrent of fire into the tunnel ahead of us. More shrieks reached our ears as the Drones ahead of us were either ignited or forced to retreat. I swapped out my magazine for a fresh one before helping Mickey mop up what was left of the buggers that hadn't run off.

What was left of the group ran like hell, eager to get out of the death trap that had suddenly snapped closed around us.

"Where the hell is that exit?" Mickey asked.

"It shouldn't be much further now," one of the survivors replied.

"Shouldn't be? Seriously? That's what we're going off of?" Korra asked.

"Hey give me a break, we didn't have alien monsters shooting at us last time," the Equalist defended. He took about three more steps before another Drone appeared, snatched him up, and vanished down a side tunnel. The man's screams echoed for a while, but quickly faded as he got farther away.

"We can't stay down here anymore. The buggers will pick us off one by one until there's no one left," Mickey said. Korra smirked and slammed her fist into her palm.

"Leave that to me," she said. My eyes went wide as I realized she was about to earthbend a hole to the street above. I quickly placed my hand on her shoulder and shook my head, stopping her mid stance.

"What?" she asked, looking up at my polarized visor with confusion.

"You'll attract attention," I answered. At first, she looked like she was going to launch me into the ceiling of the tunnel. But then, she let out a sigh and stepped out of the bending stance.

"JD's right. I'll bring a patrol down on us if I collapse the street in broad daylight," she said.

"So then we leave these tunnels the old fashioned way," Mickey said.

"There's a manhole cover about two hundred yards that way," one of the few remaining Equalists said, pointing down a side tunnel with a flashlight beam.

"That's our way out," Korra said with determination.

* * *

To say that the surface was more preferable to the sewers would be like saying the ocean is a preferable way to die over the desert. Both are deserts. One is just made of sand, while the other is made of salt water. Either way, you're still gonna die hot and thirsty. The only real difference is the view.

I wasn't entirely sure where we came up at. We were much closer to the edge of the city, I knew that much. The jagged skyline of the city center could easily be seen from here. Pillars of smoke rose skyward as several buildings burned unchecked. The assault carrier still hung over the city, silent, yet watching intently.

It's silver hull gleamed in the sunlight. Yet despite this, several purple lights were visible all around the ship. The size of the thing alone was impressive. That wasn't taking into account the firepower it had, or the amount of troops and equipment it and it alone carried. If it wanted, it could have turned the entirety of Republic City into a molten slag heap and be back into orbit in under an hour. But for some unknown reason it was just sitting there, as if the entirety of the non essential crew had gone to ground.

For whatever reason, I didn't know and I didn't care. So long as it held position and held it's fire, the no doubt thousands of civilians that were still trapped in the city had a chance to escape with their lives. Not that it mattered anyway. UNSC forces were usually forced to use a nuke when it came to the shielding an assault carrier possessed. That was just to take the shield down, once this was accomplished litterly everything left in a ships' arsenal just to try and breech their armor and hull. Success rates were low. The UNSC virtually never won a space battle against the Covenant. If they couldn't I highly doubted this world could muster any kind of defense or offense against this thing.

"Should we try and call for an evac?" Mickey asked. I gave a simple shrug in response. Assuming there were any operational airships left, I highly doubted that anyone would be willing to send them into the nightmare Republic City had become, even if it was to save the Avatar.

"We should at least try to make contact. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty mad if we walked into Asami's place only to find it abandoned," Korra said. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. A lot of time had passed since we'd last had contact with our friends. There was a very good chance that things had changed during that time and we could have been heading in the wrong direction.

Looking at Mickey, I knocked my fist twice on the side of my helmet before pointing at a nearby rooftop. He nodded in understanding before heading off toward the building I had pointed at. Korra just looked at us with an eyebrow raised, clearly waiting for someone to explain what was going on.

"Less radio interference from the roof," I explained. She nodded in understanding and left it at that. What few remained of us huddled in the entrance to the building Mickey had disappeared into, hoping to remain hidden from any Covenant snipers or air forces in the area. I sat down for probably the first time in hours on a flight of stairs, using what chance I had to rest.

Korra came and sat on the stairs next to me. She looked tired and battered, covered in dust, soot, and grime from the sewers. In all honesty, she looked about as tired as I felt. Given everything she had been through in the past twelve hours or so I couldn't blame her.

"What?" she asked when she noticed I seemed to be looking at her. Not that she could really tell, given that my helmet visor was still polarized.

"You look how I feel," I answered, allowing the visor to depolarize. She gave a small smile before she leaned on me. I didn't bother to try and shake her off. Frankly I was too tired, and at this point I could have cared less. It was nice to get some small sort of comfort out of all this chaos. It wasn't really romantic or anything like that. Just two tired people leaning on each other for support.

"Hey Rookie, you might wanna get up here and see this," Mickey's voice cracked over the comm. Oh well, all good things must come to an end, I guess. With a groan, I pulled myself to my feet, repolarized my visor, and started toward the roof. Korra followed along, curious to see what I was up to. The roof gave us a much wider view of the area around us. Mickey was crouched in a corner, watching a flurry of activity taking place much further down the street.

Pulling the sniper rifle from my back, I leveled it on the roof's edge and used the scope to get a better view of what was going on. Both Mickey and Korra were able to see the scope's screen, and thus were able to see as well. What we saw was something that was the stuff of nightmares. A massive, lumbering machine, striding atop four legs as it stomped it's way through the city.

"Scarab," I muttered with equal parts annoyance and horror. The Type 47A Ultra Heavy Assault Platform, or Scarab for those of you who actually have a life and don't want a mouthful to say, is like the Covenant's attempt to bring to life 'War of the Worlds'. Standing at just over a hundred and sixty feet tall, walking on four legs, and boasting a plasma cannon capable of destroying virtually anything it hit, a Scarab was something not to be taken lightly. The fact that there was one currently stomping it's way though Republic City didn't help our nerves.

"We need to warn the Captain and Gunny," I said.

"Interference is too strong to get a signal out. I was able to pick some transmissions though. From the sounds of things they're still at this fancy mansion place you two keep talking about," Mickey said.

"It shouldn't be much farther to walk now," Korra added. I shut down the rifle scope before returning it to my back.

"Looks like we're walking out of the soup," I muttered in annoyance.

* * *

The Sato Estate was way more fortified then the last time I had seen it. Stone and concrete barriers had been erected by earthbenders around the entrance and up driveway, yet there was no one present. There were several small scale plasma burns on the mansion itself, indicating that a fight had taken place. But the lack of bodies just made everything all the more confusing.

"I thought you said they were still here," Korra said, keeping her raised in preparation to bend.

"I said it sounded like they were still here," Mickey corrected. I remained silent as we walked into the main entrance and looked around for any signs of life. The once ornate entrance had obvious signs of a fight, with scorch marks and bullet holes everywhere. Hanging in the corner, I took notice of a camera. It was far more advanced than anything the locals had, and was scanning the main hall like a vigilant watchman.

Stepping forward, I let out a whistle and gave a short wave toward the camera. It turned and focused on me, and didn't move. Korra, who had been watching me this whole time, came forward and stood next to me. Spying the camera, she cocked her eyebrow in my direction.

"Some toy of yours?" she asked.

"Someone, somewhere close is keeping an eye on this place," I answered. The inner doors of the mansion swung open, revealing a small squad of four UNSC Marines. To say that I was surprised would have been an understatement. A pleasant surprise, but a surprise none the less. Three of them were armed with MA5s, while the fourth had a BR55 battle rifle.

"Come on, quickly, before the Covenant come back," the one with the battle rifle said, motioning us inside. We were led through the mansion, and then into a small tunnel which headed down into the mountainside. As we had guessed, our friends had fallen back to the old factory beneath the estate, not the house itself.

The factory was abuzz with activity. United Forces personal ran back and forth, either working on equipment or carrying out some form of order. Apparently, there had been a lot more UNSC personal scattered about then initially thought, hiding in the mountains and only revealing themselves when the attack began. It still wasn't no where near enough though. Sure there were some M12 Warthogs, a pair of M808 Main Battle Tanks, and enough Marines to outfit them all. But that was a drop of water compared to the pond the Covenant could field from one ship alone.

"Mickey, Rookie, thank God," Buck said as we approached him. There was some sort of command center that had been set up in the far corner of the factory. Buck, Dutch, and Romeo had been providing security for the area, making sure none of the unauthorized United Forces personal stumbled across something they shouldn't have.

"Good to see you too, Gunny," Mickey replied before he made his way over and began to fist bump and catch up with the rest of the squad. The Gunny, however, stayed close to me.

"When we lost contact with your airship, we thought you were dead. Now you turn up, with a VIP no less. Not bad for your first outing, Rookie," he said, looking past me to Korra.

"Not exactly my idea of a night out on the town, Gunny," I replied. Buck just shook his head before turning his attention to my companion.

"It's good to see you alive, Avatar. The Captain and General will be happy too," he said. Korra cocked her eyebrow in confusion at the gunnery sergeant.

"General?"

"Follow me," Buck instructed before he led us toward a tent that was an olive drab color. Inside there was some radio equipment, a large table in the center with a world map, and some screens that showed different points around the estate. Standing next to the map was Captain Dare, and a man I didn't recognize. He was tall, wearing a red uniform with dark hair, pale complexion, and golden amber eyes.

"Pardon the interruption, but some squad members have returned," Buck said.

"Of course. General, I believe you've already met the Avatar. This is Lance Corporal Durant. Durant, this is Iroh, commander of the United Forces First Fleet," Dare introduced. I gave the General a quick salute, which he returned.

"General Iroh has been putting forward a plan of attack against the Covenant," Dare continued.

"Iroh…that's not a good idea," Korra said.

"I'm sorry, Avatar Korra. But the President's final order was absolutely clear. All remaining United Forces are to attack," Iroh replied. The rest of us all shared a glance of uncertainty. We'd seen the Covenant first hand, fought for our lives against them. We knew what was at stake.

"What intel we've been able to get indicates that this is a relatively small Covenant fleet. Only three assault carriers have been sighted. One over Ba Sing Se, one over the Fire Nation Capital, and one here, over Republic City. There have been reports of smaller ships attacking outlying cities in raids, but so far these three ships are the only ones that have held position," Dare reported, using a world map that was laying on the table.

"Our attack will coordinate with Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom attacks as well. Any and all top secret and experimental technology has been approved for usage. We'll strike hard and fast, and hopefully give us a fighting chance," Iroh added.

"What few UNSC forces we've been able to gather will be helping participate in the attack. It's not much, but hopefully it'll be enough to make a difference," Dare finished.

"Understood," I answered in a monotone voice. In my head, I was screaming so hard it was amazing my lungs hadn't forced their way up my throat.

"Get some rest, and then get geared up Rookie. We're wheels up in twelve hours," Buck said. I gave another salute to the General before turning and heading off. Korra half mumbled some excuse about being tired too and came after me.

"So what do you think about this?" she asked in a low voice when she had caught up with me.

"You want the blunt truth or hopeful lie?" I asked. She pursed her lips.

"Both. But give me the lie first," she said.

"It's…bold," I said, choosing my words carefully.

"And the truth?" I kicked a long wooden crate with the tip of my boot as we walked by.

"Pick one and get cozy, cause we're all gonna die."

 **And cut. Next time, we head into the maw as the United Forces attempt an all out attack on their enemy. How will all this play out? Remember to read, review, let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.**


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